Gal 4:8-20 - The gospel unchained

The last verse in Galatians referencing the gospel is 4:13 in the context of Paul transitioning from the Galatians' enslavement to their freedom:

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods.⁹Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want to be enslaved to them again?¹⁰You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years.¹¹I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted.
12 Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong.¹³You know that it was because of a physical infirmity that I first announced the gospel to you;¹⁴though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me, but welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.¹⁵What has become of the goodwill you felt? For I testify that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.¹⁶Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?¹⁷They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them.¹⁸It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you.¹⁹My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,²⁰I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

The word 'gospelled' is straightforwardly speaking about Paul's original preaching of the gospel message to the Galatians due to illness. The whole purpose of Paul writing this letter is to move the Galatians back to simple, obedient, Spirit-led faith in that message rather than a complex system of religious observance and practice being introduced to them. The perversion of the gospel message is the addition of observing the law to be considered part of Israel and to receive eternal life. This is not purely doing the 'right' thing in terms of sin, but also the proper religious observances including rituals of circumcision, Sabbath keeping, festivals, etc.

As far as concluding how Galatians defines the gospel, we can say that it largely assumes the Galatians know its message already. However, the implications have been distorted by others adding requirements to what Jesus has already achieved, the 'righteous' status as Abraham's children declared by God, and what the Spirit is at work doing in their lives.

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Gal 3:6-9 - Abraham heard the gospel

This post has been a long time coming. but I did get other posts up including my short, medium, and long definitions of the gospel. I'm sure these definitions will be altered by the time this blog covers the use of the 'gospel' noun and verb in the New Testament, but they will work for now. I've decided to leave some assessments of the texts I look at open for additions from you. This text is a good example.

I've skipped over a large section of Galatians since the last time we delved in because there is no use of the 'gospel' verb or noun and the main concept of that section was covered in the post, "Galatians and gospel logic."

There are plenty of passages that directly speak about how the gospel was promised beforehand and this is one of them. Here's the interesting part: It has to do with being descendents of Abraham and fulfilling that promise of God to make a people for himself. Here's the text, Gal 3:6-9 (NRSV):

6 Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’,⁷so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham.⁸And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’⁹For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

 The verb, 'gospelled before' is in verse 8 and is the single occurrence of the modified 'gospelled' verb (essentially adding a prefix making it past-tense).  It refers to the gospel having been told to Abraham. The gospel that was declared was that all nations would be blessed in him. All who believe (Jews and Gentiles alike) are descendents of Abraham and therefore blessed with him. It seems to me that the text is saying that when we have faith in the gospel we are blessed because we are brought into Abraham's family.

As this is the 2nd last occurrence of the word in Galatians, I should also touch on how its seems that Paul is saying the 'promise' or 'blessing' or 'inheritance'  is the Holy Spirit himself (3:14) who we live by leading to eternal life (6:8-9). Paul again reiterates, after his long explanation about how it is only through faith in Jesus and what he has done, that we are Abraham's descendents (3:29).

Why do you think this is such an important point for Paul?
How does it change how we view the gospel?
Do you think I need to integrate this more into my definitions? How?

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Gal 1:11 - 'Gospel' is a verb and a noun

In our English Bibles we find the word 'gospel' or sometimes 'good news', but in the original Greek there is a verb (euaggelizó) as well as the noun (euaggelion). How does the verb get translated? It is normally translated that someone 'proclaimed the good news' or something similar. Really, it ought to say 'gospelled', but that's not a common word. Sometimes the verb and the noun occur in the same place at the same time. This combination occurs five times: 1 Cor 9:18, 15:1; 2 Cor 11:7; Gal 1:11; Rev 14:6.

Today we'll look at Gal 1:11-12 (NRSV)

11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12 for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

"The gospel I preached" is literally "the gospel I gospelled." Now this text might not seem like much, but it makes some pretty bold claims that could be misconstrued as contradictory to other statements of Paul regarding the gospel. He states three negatives and adds a positive:

Not of human origin
Not received from anyone
Not taught it

Received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ

Now according to 1 Cor 15:1, Paul received the gospel and passed it on (Which we'll cover another time). The reason for the difference is that Paul is asserting the validity of his apostleship and the validity of the gospel they heard from him as being legitimate. He writes at length shortly thereafter about his conversion and how God revealed his son (Jesus) to him. Then he continues on about how he didn't confer with Peter and company till later and that they affirmed him and added nothing to his gospel.

What Paul is driving home about the gospel is that he personally saw Jesus the Messiah risen from the dead. The gospel hinges on the historic fact of the resurrection and Paul's conversion was a result of an encounter of the risen Lord. He knows the gospel isn't of human origin (made up stories), or receive it from anyone (go find out about it), or have someone explain it all to him because he understood the implications (learned) of his personal encounter (received directly) of Jesus on the Damascus road (real history).

These are all important facts about the gospel, but it is also important that Paul stresses agreement as to what the gospel is. He emphasizes his validity as apostle to preach the gospel and the agreement about what the gospel is because these are the problems he faces in correcting the Galatian church. They need to know that Paul is legit and that the people throwing them into confusion are false teachers. Paul leverages his encounter with Jesus and the solidarity of the gospel message to speak clarity into the situation, which I posted about the last couple of days.

I suppose I should point out how Paul is revealing that the gospel is a revelation of Jesus who has been raised from the dead and is the Messiah (Christ). These are also constant themes, but not the emphasis in this passage.

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